Last week, the Muslim Students’ Association held its annual Islam Awareness Week at UTM. Islam Awareness Week is the MSA’s largest event and includes a different theme every year. Titled “The Point of Origin,” this year’s theme examined the identity of God in religion as a whole.
For this purpose, Islam Awareness Week included lectures from leading Muslim academics. One of the more publicized lectures was that of Dr. Hisham Mahmoud from Princeton University, who spoke on “The Gospel of Jesus According to Muhammad.”
Throughout the week, displays educating students about the Muslim faith and the importance of religion in daily life filled the CCT atrium. Volunteers sported T-shirts with phrases ranging from “I am Muslim when I study” to “I am Muslim when I save the environment.” Lastly, drawings of people with cutout faces allowed students to take pictures with their faces on the caricatured bodies, which sported the same slogans as on the T-shirts.
“We live in a society where atheism is prevalent. If you trace our existence back, it always comes back to religion. It’s important for people to start thinking about the point of origin, religion,” said MSA president Fahad Tariq.
The official invitation to Islam Awareness Week stated that the week’s events were important in order to recognize and appreciate the ideals shared by UTM students, such as compassion and mercy.
“Instead of always focusing on the ‘how’ of situations, we want students to stop by the CCT atrium to see the displays and to try to understand the ‘why,’” said Tariq.
One of the MSA’s goals this year was to provide more learning opportunities for Muslims and non-Muslims on campus. According to its website, the MSA’s aim is to serve the best interests of Islam and the Muslim community at UTM. The MSA endeavors to make Islamic teachings known to interested non-Muslims. It also promotes friendly relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, encouraging Mus-lims to contribute individually and collectively toward meeting the human needs in conformity with the teachings of Islam and strives to create a feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood on campus.
